Aiming to build trust, CRPF begins razing bunkers in Srinagar

CRPF has started removing bunkers from Srinagar to reduce the imprint of security forces and mend fences with the people of Kashmir.

A decision to remove the structures was taken by the combined forces headquarters on September 29 soon after the Centre announced an eight-point plan to bring peace in the strife-torn Valley.

Under the plan, 16 are to be removed in Srinagar city and till now, about 50% of the work has been done. “The bunkers were basically residential pickets for the soldiers. Now, all the men staying in them will return to their bases,” Prabhakar Tripathy, the CRPF spokesman at Srinagar, said.

Some of the buildings were established 20 years ago when militancy started in Kashmir. Earlier, the structures used to be manned by the BSF, but after their de-induction in 2005, these became the responsibility of the CRPF. Some have been removed from Batamloo and other sensitive areas in the old city, which witnessed large-scale stone pelting recently.

The government decided to tear down the structures as they had been a source of acrimony between the locals and the security forces. “Some bunkers have been removed from areas which saw a lot of stone pelting recently,” a senior security officer said.

More than 70 battalions of CRPF are deployed in Jammu and
Kashmir and most of them are serving in the Kashmir Valley. The people of Kashmir have mixed feelings over the removal of bunkers.

“This will not have any impact on ground. If government is sincere, they should initiate purposeful dialogue for resolving the Kashmir issue. Bunkers can be built or destroyed anytime,” said Shabir Ahmad, as he watched a bunker being pulled down in the old city.